Irish Cancel Tram Deal With Israel

some good news ...

in solidarity,

saja

 

Irish tramline forced to cancel contract with Israeli occupation
authorities in Jerusalem

Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
18 August 2006
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5573.shtml


The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is delighted to
announce a small but significant victory in the international struggle
against Connex and the illegal Israeli tramline being built by them on
occupied Palestinian territory. Connex had been planning to allow the
Israeli staff of an illegal tramline project in occupied Easy
Jerusalem to train on Dublin's Luas light railway.

Connex (who in Ireland now operate under the name Veolia) also runs
the Luas system. The Luas has only been running for a few years and it
is likely that the tramline currently being built by Connex in
occupied East Jerusalem is a near identical system. For this reason,
representatives from Israel had been in negotiations with Veolia
Ireland to have Israeli engineers and drivers trained on the Dublin
Luas, with a view to then operating the illegal tramline in Jerusalem.
The training was due to begin next month, and a contract was being
finalised.

But in recent days, Veolia has been forced to cancel the proposed deal
with its Israeli counterpart following pressure from Irish trade union
representatives, in turn responding to overtures from the IPSC.

An IPSC spokesperson stated: "This is a small but significant victory
for the Palestinian right to self-determination. This tramline, like
the Apartheid Wall, is an integral component of Israel's annexation of
East Jerusalem. You would expect a tramline to be fairly innocuous,
but the lesson is no: when you do business with Israel, you invariably
do business with the Occupation. Veolia clearly understand that there
is a growing awareness of this within Irish society. People are
realising that diplomacy has utterly failed to curb Israeli crimes. We
must cut ties with Israel in order to force it to end its Occupation,"

The spokesperson further stated, "Veolia's position, however, is
extraordinary. In cancelling this contract, Veolia acknowledge that
the Israeli line is illegal and unsupportable. Yet it is they who are
building it! The hypocrisy is inexcusable, and their attempts to deny
that they bowed to pressure are laughable. Since the Minister for
Transport and the Railway Procurement Agency have ultimate control
over who runs the Luas, the IPSC now calls on Martin Cullen and the
RPA to cancel Veolia's contract unless they cease building this
illegal tramline on occupied Palestinian territory."

The tramline being built by Connex/Veolia will run between Israeli
settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. The settlements, which have
been built on annexed Palestinian land, are illegal under the 4th
Geneva Convention, and are recognised as such by the Irish government.
If completed, the Israeli tramline will permanently link Jewish-only
settlements such as Pisgat Ze'ev, French Hill, Neve Ya'akov and Gilo,
to Israeli West Jerusalem, thereby cementing Israel's hold on occupied
East Jerusalem, and ensuring that there can never be a Palestinian state.

The IPSC had initially learned that a delegation from Israel was in
Dublin last month to inspect the Luas. Subsequently, it has emeged
that Veolia have hosted three Israeli visits to Dublin in the last
eighteen months. The IPSC will ensure that there will be no further
cooperation between the Dublin Luas and the Jerusalem tram, and indeed
we will step up our campaign for the Irish government to cancel
Veolia's contract. However, the IPSC would also stress that we were
completely unaware of the previous two visits from Israel. We thus
urge solidarity campaigns, in countries where Connex operates, to
contact the relevant unions and determine whether any support or
assistance is being given to the Israeli tramline. Clearly, the
Israeli drivers and engineers must get training from somewhere, and

soon, if they are to operate this line in occupied East Jerusalem.
This campaign thus has great potential. If human rights groups and
Palestinian solidarity campaigns can ensure that no country will train
Israeli engineers and drivers, then perhaps we can help to "derail"
this criminal project entirely.

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